Let’s talk about Korean bibimbap!  Now I’m starving just thinking about it.  Mmmm…crackling rice in the bottom of a hot stone dolsot, with piping hot bulgogi and vegetables topped by a fried egg.  Hot and spicy food for a cold, fall day – I’m in!

Well, around here, we have to start way ahead of time and grow our own mung bean sprouts.  The Asian food market is an hour away and I refuse to drive two hours just for a $2.00 bag of bean sprouts.  Instead, we must farm our own sprouts.

You can save yourself any type of plastic container.  I recently used an old wild rice container and it worked great!  Pop about half a cup of mung beans in the bottom, rinse, and fill with water until the beans are about an inch underwater.  Let that sit on the counter under a dark dish towel overnight.  In the morning, strain off the water by tilting the cap of the container against the rim of the container so no beans fall out.  Keep them covered with the dark dish towel, but with no lid on (they need to breathe).  Now, rinse the beans every time you think about them (rinsing every few hours or so makes fatter, crunchier sprouts).  If you’re really hungry for bibimbap, you’ll think of them frequently.  However, at least rinse them morning and night.  On day four or five, they’ll be bursting out of the top, like this:

When they’re fully grown, rinse them and let them drip dry.  Then store in the fridge in a zip-lock bag for up to a few days.  These are a must-have for egg fu yung, bibimbap, stir fry, and other Asian dishes.  Enjoy!